today's suggestion: feather

I opened my eyes this morning to see a feather floating down from the skylight in my ceiling.

Run Forrest Run.

I have a nasty habit of adding two's and getting metaphors.

I play games in my head a lot.

I don't use the connections that I make in my mind to crack secret government codes or because I am sent from another galaxy to save the planet, I just do it for brainsport.
It's like a never ending multi-dimensional puzzle that is on a the game table in the vacation house in my brain.

It's fun and it makes me laugh!
Crazy is relative.

Another hobby I have had for the last three and a half years is the research of symbols.
Let's research the symbolism of the feather, shall we?
My favorite reference book is The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols.
Unfortunately, I gave that away.

So from An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols by J.C. Cooper:

Feather Truth, which must rise; lightness; dryness; the heavens; height; speed; space; flight to other realms; the soul; the element of wind and air as opposed to the humid principle. To wear feathers or feathered headdress is to take on the power, or mana, of the bird and puts the wearer in touch with the knowledge of the birds ('a little bird told me'), and with their transcendent and instinctual knowledge and magic power. Two feathers together represent light and air; the two poles; also resurrection. Three feathers are associated with the Fleur-de-Lis and are an emblem of the Prince of Wales. The white feather symbolizes clouds, sea-foam and cowardice since a white feather or feathers in the tail of a fighting cock was taken as a sign of faulty breeding and therefore disinclination to fight. A feather-crown represents the rays of the sun. Amerindian: Eagle Feathers depict the Thunder Bird, the Great Spirit, universal spirit, also rays of light. Celtic: Feathered cloaks worn by priests represent the journey to another world; fairies also wear feather-trimmed dresses. Christian: Contemplation; faith. Egyptian: Sovereignty; truth; flight; weightlessness; dryness; height; emblem of the goddess Maat as Truth. Dieties with feathers as attributes are also the solar Amen Ra and Anheru, Osiris, Horus, Shu, Hathor, Amsu, Mentu, Nefertium. In Amenti Osiris weighs the soul against feathers of truth. Scandinavian: Freyja owned a magic robe of feathers which enabled its wearer to fly through the air. Shamanistic: The feathered robes of shamans give power of flight to other realms and to undertake knowledge-gaining journeys. Taoist: Attribute of the priest, the 'feathered sage' or 'feathered visitor'; communication with the next world. Toltec: Feathered sticks represent prayer, contemplation.

Wow. So, each of these cultures or spiritual belief systems agreed on one meaning for Feather. Interesting.

This may be lofty of me, but I believe that every individual person has their own personal belief system. Every individual has his or her own brain, right? It is my personal belief that any organized religious system is just a conglomeration of a bunch of individual brains that all concentrate on melding together to believe in something so strongly that it manifests! If this is true, then in order to believe something into existence, I have to get other people to believe in my universe.

Isn't that completely narcissistic and hierarchal?!!!!??? I thought all men were created equal!!!

How does one person believe that he or she is worthy of leading other people? How can any single human being accept a position like President of the United States or King of England without fancying themselves of greater value than the rest of world?

In North America, there are 14 species of the Columbidae family. These are Key West Quail Doves, White-tipped Doves, Mourning Doves, White-winged Doves, Eurasian Collared-Doves, Ringed Turtle-Doves, Spotted Doves, Inca Doves, Common Ground-Doves, Ruddy Ground-Doves, Rock Doves (Common Pigeons), Band-tailed Pigeons, Red-billed Pigeons, and White-Crowned Pigeons. -from about.com